Richard Chizmar

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Richard Chizmar in 2021 Profile Picture Richard Chizmar.jpg
Richard Chizmar in 2021

Richard Thomas Chizmar (born 1965) is an American writer, the publisher and editor of Cemetery Dance magazine, and the owner of Cemetery Dance Publications. He also edits anthologies, produces films, writes screenplays, and teaches writing.

Contents

Writing

Richard Chizmar is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author.[ citation needed ]

He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the novella, Gwendy's Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories.[ citation needed ] He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award.[ citation needed ]

Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little.[ citation needed ]

Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra.[ citation needed ]

His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film.[ citation needed ]

Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.[ citation needed ]

Publishing

Chizmar is the founder of Cemetery Dance, a literary publisher that runs a magazine by the same name and a book imprint, Cemetery Dance Publications. He founded Cemetery Dance magazine in 1988 while attending the University of Maryland's College of Journalism. It features dark fantasy, horror fiction, and articles related to those subjects. Metro Silicon Valley called it "America's longest-running independent horror-themed magazine". [1] [2]

The book imprint, Cemetery Dance Publications was first launched in 1992 and has produced more than 300 different autographed limited edition, lettered edition hardcover novels, novellas, and anthologies. It also publishes chapbooks, trade hardcovers, and a few paperbacks. [3]

Screenplays and Chesapeake films

Richard Chizmar co-founded Chesapeake Films with Johnathon Schaech, with whom he also co-writes screenplays. Their produced screenplays include 2006's Road House 2 (based on the story by Miles Chapman) and Showtime's Masters of Horror presentation of The Washingtonians (based on Bentley Little's story) from 2007. They also wrote the screenplay for an unproduced adaptation of From a Buick 8 based on Stephen King's novel.

Selected awards

WorkYear & AwardCategoryResultRef.
Cemetery Dance 1990 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Nominated
1991 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Won
1993 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Nominated
1994 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Nominated
1995 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Nominated
1996 British Fantasy Award Small PressNominated [4]
1997 British Fantasy AwardSmall PressNominated [5]
1998 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Nominated
1999 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional Won
2007 Black Quill AwardDark Genre Short Fiction Magazine (Editors' Choice)Won [6]
2008 Black Quill AwardDark Genre Short Fiction Magazine (Readers' Choice)Won [7]
Midnight Promises1997 World Fantasy Award CollectionNominated
Best of Cemetary Dance1998 Bram Stoker Award AnthologyNominated
1998 International Horror Guild Award AnthologyNominated [8]
Subterranean Gallery

(with William Schafer)

1999 International Horror Guild AwardAnthologyWon [9]
October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween

(with Robert Morrish)

2000 International Horror Guild AwardAnthologyWon [10]
2001 Locus Award AnthologyNominated [11]
Night Visions 102001 International Horror Guild AwardAnthologyWon [12]
2002 Locus AwardAnthologyNominated [13]
Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas2001 Bram Stoker AwardAnthologyNominated
Shivers2002 Bram Stoker AwardAnthologyNominated
Shivers III2004 Bram Stoker AwardAnthologyNominated
Shivers V2009 Black Quill AwardsDark Genre AnthologyNominated [14]
A Long December2016 Bram Stoker AwardFiction CollectionNominated
Chasing the Boogeyman2021 Goodreads Choice Awards HorrorNominated [15]
Gwendy's Final Task

(with Stephen King)

2022 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorrorNominated [16]
2023 Locus AwardAnthologyNominated [17]
Becoming the Boogeyman2023 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorrorNominated [18]

Books

Gwendy trilogy

  1. Gwendy's Button Box (with Stephen King) (2017)
  2. Gwendy's Magic Feather (2019)
  3. Gwendy's Final Task (with Stephen King) (2020)

Boogeyman series

  1. Chasing the Boogeyman (2021)
  2. Becoming the Boogeyman (2023)

Standalone novels

Short stories and novellas

See also

References

  1. Kleffel, Rick (October 26, 2005). "Grave New World". Metro Silicon Valley . Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  2. "Cemetery Dance Publications: History of Cemetery Dance". Cemetery Dance Publications. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  3. "Cemetery Dance Publications: History of Cemetery Dance". Cemetery Dance Publications. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  4. https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_1996
  5. https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_1997
  6. http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/1st-annual-winners/
  7. http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/2nd-annual-winners/
  8. https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html
  9. https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html
  10. https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html
  11. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2001
  12. https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html
  13. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2002
  14. http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/3rd-annual-bqa-nominees/
  15. https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-horror-books-2021
  16. https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-horror-books-2022
  17. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2023
  18. https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-horror-books-2023